


Get Well Cards

by taylor_tut



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Fever, Gen, Illnesses, Max Cares, Sick Character, Sickfic, Stomach Ache, Vomiting, caring Gwen, caring Max, dadvid, david is camp dad, max is a worried son, sick david
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 19:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14064030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: A prompt from @illnessandinjury on tumblr: David gets a stomach bug and the campers, save for Max, make him cards. But when David gets worse and Gwen has to drive him to the ER, Max caves.





	Get Well Cards

Even Max would admit that David had looked peaky in the morning.

“ _ Gwennnn _ ,” he whined as he stumbled into the mess hall, his hair sticking out in odd places and with a shiny pallor to his skin, “my tummy hurts.”

Gwen looked up from her trashy magazine and blew on her hot coffee before taking a sip.

“The quartermaster probably slipped poison into your mashed potatoes,” she deadpanned. David shook his head. 

“No, this doesn’t feel like last time,” he argued. 

Max rolled his eyes. David could be such a baby.

With a sigh, David sat in front of her tiredly and leaned in close, speaking softly enough that the campers wouldn’t overhear. Of course, that only fueled Max’s curiosity, and he shushed Nikki so he could listen. “Look, I’m only telling you this because I don’t think I can last a whole day of kayaking,” he admitted. Just the thought made him go from pale to pasty. “I think we should reschedule it.”

Gwen shook her head. “Come on, David. The kids are so excited about it. Just look at them,” she said, gesturing to the campers, all of whom were either tormenting one another or asleep on the tables. 

David grimaced. “I know, and I feel so awful about it,” he said, looking like he might end up caving, anyway. “Maybe I could try to…” he trailed off as a panicked look took hold of his eyes. 

“David?” Gwen prompted, “you okay?” 

Without another word, David beelined for the restrooms and Gwen frowned. She tried to give him some privacy, but as the moments ticked by, she grew more and more concerned until she’d just stood up to check on him and he staggered out the door, looking worse than before and wiping his mouth with the side of his hand. One arm was keeping him steady against the wall. 

“Woah, okay,” Gwen gave in, “we’ll postpone kayaking.” David gave a weak smile in thanks. “You just go back to your room and get some rest.”

“Are you sure you can handle them alone all day?” he asked, clearly feeling guilty about taking even a sick day off. Max made a note to tell him how idiotic that was later. 

Gwen nodded, turning around to face the campers. “Listen up, everybody. I know we were supposed to go kayaking today, but David isn’t feeling too well today. We’re going to have to reschedule that activity for another day, got it?”

A few of the campers groaned. 

“Is David okay?” Nerris asked, “because he looks like he could use a healing potion.” Something in a vial emitted a puff of green smoke and Gwen shook her head. 

“I’m fine,” David reassured, “just a little under the weather. I’m so sorry about the kayaking trip, campers,” he lamented. “I really wanted to go just as much as you all do.”

Max scoffed. “So you’re dreading it with all your being?”

David pointedly ignored the comment, not having the energy to deal with that right now. “I promise we’ll go next week!”

Nikki jumped up from her seat. “Ooh, I know!” she shouted, “pick me!”

Gwen sighed. “Yes, Nikki?”

She stood on her chair to announce her grand idea. “How about we do an arts and crafts day instead?” she suggested. “We can all make get well cards for David!” 

David positively  _ beamed _ when the other campers muttered in agreement. 

“I think that’s a great idea,” Gwen said softly, smiling. God, for as much as they could be little shits, these kids sure knew how to pull  _ just _ enough on her heartstrings that she couldn’t even make herself love them any less when they were bad. It made her feel weak.

“You guys are so sweet,” David cooed. “I’m sure I’ll feel better in no time.”  

“That’s stupid,” Max interjected. “If you’re actually sick, what good is a stupid crayon drawing going to do?” 

David hesitated. “It’s just--the thought,” he said, at a loss for words. Was Max giving him shit, or did he just not know how much better someone could feel during illness just by knowing someone cared?

Max threw his hands in the air and huffed. “Well, I’m not going to make one. Suffer,” he said.

David, as always, was unphased. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he reassured. His stomach churned again and he gave a small wave as a chorus of “feel better!” and “go fuck yourself, Camp Man,” followed him out the door.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

True to his word, Max did not make a card. Instead, he spent the next two hours alternating between irritating the ever-living shit out of Gwen and taunting those who  _ were _ making cards.

“Can we give David our cards?” Space Kid asked as Gwen struggled to serve lunch by herself before the rabbid little demons resorted to eating the weakest of the bunch. 

“Yeah, sure,” she promised, “after lunch. We’ll all go see how he’s doing.”

Max picked at his plate distractedly. 

“Are you gonna eat that, or just play with it?” Neil asked, watching Max push his food around with his fork. 

Max shoved it away, not feeling hungry. Something was on his mind, but he couldn’t figure out what the feeling was. It was heavy and lingering somewhere between his chest and his stomach, and it intensified every time he thought about going to visit David and looking at his face as everyone handed him a card and Max gave him nothing.

“Nah,” he replied, “whatever the quartermaster poisoned David with is probably in the rest of this crap, too.”

Nikki took a huge bite of mashed potatoes. “Whatever it is, it sure tastes good,” she declared around a mouthful of food. 

Her Get Well card was sitting next to her plate, a pile of glitter sitting on top of it just waiting to fly all over the next person who touched it. Neil’s card was folded in fourths, with pop-up green trees poking out of the top. As he looked around the cafeteria, he saw at least one card, if not more, sitting next to each camper, each reflecting their individual personalities, each depicting their own personal relationships with David. Each card was just brimming with the skills and passions that David worked hard morning, noon, and night to nurture. 

Max glanced down at the blank piece of paper that Gwen had given him in case he’d changed his mind. His said… nothing. Whatever, he thought, balling the paper up angrily and throwing it under the table with a grunt. David was probably fine by now, anyway. He couldn’t imagine that even his  _ body _ could spend more than three hours sitting down.

The kids hurried through their lunches in a rush to get to David. 

“I’m going first!” Nurf demanded. His card--well, less of a “card” and more of a “smiley face engraved on a wooden slab” (David had taught him that stabbing for the purpose of art could be much more fulfilling than for pain)--was held tightly in his hands, poised and ready to slap the other campers around with if it became necessary. 

“No,” Gwen asserted, “because I’m the only one with a key.” She knocked on the door to his cabin a few times, and when she didn’t get a reply, she sighed. “He’s probably napping,” she deduced.

Max rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s not like that chipper fuck will mind if we wake him up for a visit,” he pointed out. 

Gwen smiled. Max must really want to check in, then. “You’re right,” she said, opening the door. “David,” she called, “there are some kids who want to see you.” 

But David wasn’t in his bed. 

His sheets were on the floor, like he’d gotten up in a hurry, and Gwen knew that meant that he could only be in one place. 

“David?” she called once more, “you alive?” 

A pained groan hit her ears and she pushed open the bathroom door just wide enough to find David, still dressed in his uniform, curled over the toilet, half-conscious. 

“Oh, shit,” she cursed, turning back to the campers. “Okay, I need a few minutes alone with David. Max, will you take everyone outside?” 

Max’s eyes were fixated on David’s slumped, pale frame. His eyes were barely open and not responding to the commotion in his room, and his blinks were slow and heavy. A glassy gaze lazily made its way upward toward them. 

“Gwen?” he asked, and she stooped down next to him. 

“Yeah, David; it’s me,” she replied. Pressing her hand to his forehead, she frowned. “How’re you feeling?”

He moaned. “Can’t keep anything down,” he admitted. 

“Not even water?” Max found himself interjecting. 

“Max, please. Bring everyone outside. I’ve got this.”

David, seemingly noticing the campers for the first time, perked up ever so slightly, still unable to fully pull his cheek away from the porcelain seat, and smiled loopily. “Hey, kids,” he greeted, his voice absolutely shot from throwing up all morning.

Nerris took a step forward. “We all made you cards,” she told him, “well, except Max.”

David frowned for a second, his eyes meeting Max’s as his name was mentioned, before shaking himself out of it and forcing the smile back on.

“That’s so nice of you all,” he said, “thank you.” The attempt he made to pick his head up and reach forward to grab the card ended in his eyes fluttering dangerously close to shut and his head falling limply into Gwen’s chest. 

“Max,” she snapped, “outside. Now, please.”

Neil shoved Max’s shoulders forward, Max’s eyes still transfixed on David, and ushered the others out the door. 

Gwen turned to David and brushed his cheeks and forehead with the back of her hand. 

“Shit, David. You’re really burning up,” she fretted. “Have you been able to drink anything?”

David shook his head, and the motion made him nauseated, sending his face back to the porcelain gods.

“Why didn’t you come get me?” 

He shook his head. “Too dizzy to get up,” he replied, and Gwen chewed on her lower lip.

“Okay, you’re super dehydrated,” she decided. “We’re going to take a trip to the ER, alright?” Without waiting for David to answer, she hauled him to his feet. As soon as she’d gotten to the door, Nurf, surprisingly gently, supported David’s other arm as they led him to the car.

“Okay, kids. I’ve got to take David to the emergency room.” The children’s faces looked horrified, and she regretted putting it so plainly. “He’ll be fine,” she softened, “but he needs fluids. Please don’t set anything on fire while we’re gone,” she instructed. 

“Wait, Gwen.”

She sighed. “What is it, Max?” she asked. 

Without looking her in the eyes, he extended a folded piece of paper toward her. “Give this to the idiot when he wakes up,” he said embarrassedly. Gwen smiled sympathetically, gathering the cards from all the other campers as well and promising that David would be up and reading them soon, before she started the car and gunned it toward the hospital.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out, Gwen was right. 

David just had a nasty case of food poisoning, but it had gotten bad enough to dehydrate him pretty severely. Darkly, she wondered what might have happened had Max not convinced her to wake him from his nap for a visit.

One and a half IV bags of fluid later, he opened his eyes, blearily looking around the room. “Where--?” he asked, meeting Gwen’s eyes with a panicked look.

She scooted her chair forward and set a calming hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay; it’s fine,” she reassured. You got some kind of stomach bug from hell and got pretty dehydrated, so I had to take you to the hospital.” 

David swallowed against a dry throat, nodding, and took an ice chip from the bowl that Gwen extended. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“The campers--?” David asked, ignoring the question. She sighed fondly. 

“They’re fine,” she promised. “I left my phone with Max in case he needed anything, and I’ve been texting them updates from yours. They were pretty terrified when you were barely conscious in your bathroom, though.”

He winced. “I thought I dreamt that…” he muttered. “I must have been delirious, because I could swear that I remember Max worrying.”

She nodded like a fisherman telling a tall tale. “He’s been freaked,” she admitted. “Keeps asking if you’re awake. Which reminds me,” she fished in her bag for the stack of cards, “I told them I’d give you these as soon as you were conscious.” 

David took the papers in his hands and began to read them with care. He laughed out loud when Harrison’s card spit confetti out of seemingly nowhere, quirked an eyebrow at Preston’s Shakespearian quote, and wiped the still-wet paint off his hands after handling Dolph’s card.

At the bottom of the pile, the first card collected sat.

His jaw dropped when he saw it.

It was a crude crayon lettering that just said “Don’t die,” on the front, complete with a picture of a skull and crossbones. David smiled broadly, knowing that despite it looking like the least work had gone into it, that Max had likely labored more than any of the other campers over how to phrase his concern without sounding like he cared. 

He opened the card, expecting a blank interior, but was shocked to the point of tears when he found the message scribbled inside.

_ “Of all the adults in my life, you’re the only one who’s ever given a shit. Stop slacking off.” _ He’d signed and dated the card with formality, the crayon peeling off in a few places where the paper had been crumpled and re-flattened. 

Gwen smiled, not knowing what the card said but not needing to. “You’re supposed to spend the night here, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning to get you back to Camp Campbell.” 

David wiped a tear from his eye and smiled back at her. “I can’t wait,” he said. 


End file.
